Disaster at Stalingrad: An Alternate History (22 page)

The carrier USS
Wasp
(
behind
) and the cruiser USS
Wichita
in the British fleet base at Scapa Flow in the late spring of 1942.

Lt. McCampbell (
left
) waves off an RAF Spitfire from the flight deck of the USS
Wasp
during the Malta mission that preceded convoy PQ-17.

USS
Wasp
mortally wounded by dive-bomber attack in the Battle of 20° East. The
Wasp’s
teak deck offered no protection, unlike the armoured decks of British carriers.

Maj. Gen. Henning von Tresckow, Chief of Staff, 6th Army, and major figure in the plot to kill Hitler and destroy National Socialism’s dictatorship.

Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, though promoted by Hitler, was determined to kill his benefactor for the sake of Germany’s soul.

Major Hans Ulrich Rudel, an ardent Nazi and the deadliest of all the Stuka pilots, left a long trail of destroyed Soviet tanks from the Caucasus to Stalingrad.

A Stuka of Luftflotte 4 hangs over Stalingrad, tormenting its defenders, until Chuikov’s close-combat tactics reduced the effectiveness of the German air support.

The brutal air raid on Stalingrad that killed thousands of civilians and opened the battle.

German 6th Army troops watching the air attack on Stalingrad as they approach the city.

Red Army men on the attack amid Stalingrad’s ruins. Chuikov’s superiors provided a steady stream of reinforcements to keep the battle going.

Soviet tanks and infantry in the encirclement of 6th Army.

One of many T-34s destroyed in the
Totenritt
bei Leninsk that cleared the way for the fall of Stalingrad.

The destruction of the Stalingrad Front by the German 11th Army.